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Two-alarm fire damages block on Adams Street in Dorchester

The Boston Fire Department reports firefighters responded at 2:34 a.m. to the Blasi block of stores and offices at 756-762 Adams St.

The two-alarm fire was confined to the second floor, but it caused extensive smoke damage to the first-floor shops, the department says, estimating damage at $700,000. Fire investigators are still trying to determine the cause.

But even if there were, what is wrong with the BFD documenting its work? Other agencies, from BPD to MassDOT do it as well, and it's not like BFD is spending a ton of money on the photos, and they're not posting exploitative shots.

And it's different. It's not like BPD or EMS are posting pictures of them responding to someone shot in the head. I agree with the poster. I always found this kind of morbid. I'm grateful for BFD, but if my house burned down, I wouldn't want pictures of my misery shared throughout twitter.

I have no problem with the BFD taking and posting a few pictures. Other than the fire buffs and "sparkies," nobody else is reliably doing it and the shots may be good for training and documentation later. 20 years ago and for decades prior, a group of overnight news photographers and reporters would be stationed in Andrew Square in order to race to the next hot call in the city. This central location was also convenient to 93, the Pike and the North and South Shore in case there were hot calls there that night. Their presence at scenes allowed them to develop police and fire sources, very rare now. News coverage has changed, for the worse. Short of an inferno or massacre, now Adam is often the only one covering the fires and crime in the city.

I still get a kick out of local media weeping at Menino's death, saying there had been two decades of "no scandal." How would we know? The City Hall media bureau was empty most of the time. The coverage is largely by media regurgitating press releases from City Hall, often written by pals who were former media. Only Adam seems to write about the meetings. I understand the BFD saying, "hey, we're out here overnight, this is what we do."